Last year, the initial public offering (IPO) landscape was dominated by names operating in tech, and specifically, fintech. But this year, the list of companies rumored to be seeking public listings spans sectors.
Beyond ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which MarketBeat profiled in November, and Elon Musk-led SpaceX on the list of private companies ramping up to go public, it is also rife with startups that—in many instances—are already household names.
Professional and amateur designers are already familiar with the graphic design platform Canva, and the company is rumored to be aiming for an IPO in the second half of the year, with a valuation in the $42 billion range.
Last August, the company achieved that level after an employee share sale that signaled strong investor interest, reflective of the company’s rapid growth, more than 265 million monthly active users (MAUs), and its suite of AI-integrated design tools. Canva recently reported $4 billion in annual recurring revenue.
Liquid Death is another. In 2023, the company retained the services of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to explore an IPO the following year, when in the first quarter of 2024, the disruptive beverage maker’s valuation reached an estimated $1.4 billion following a $67 million financing round. Ultimately, management concluded that market conditions were not ideal, but the company has again been in the spotlight this year as its popularity reaches new highs.
Some potential IPO's warrant a deeper dive. Here—in alphabetical order—are three of the biggest names that investors should be keeping an eye on as rumors swirl about their forthcoming IPOs.
Anthropic: A Public Benefit Corporation With an LLM Focus
If most people had to name the three most popular large language models (LLMs), there is a good chance that they would mention OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude.
Anthropic is a public benefit company (PBC)—an increasingly popular business model that legally requires companies to balance for-profit aims with specific, designated public benefits. Kickstarter and Patagonia serve as examples of well-known PBCs. But unlike those two, Anthropic is likely to make the leap to a publicly traded entity soon.
The company’s LLM—Claude—has between 18 and 20 million MAUs. Additionally, Anthropic develops reliable and steerable AI models capable of advanced reasoning, coding, and even autonomous computer use.
One reason the company may choose 2026 for its IPO is to capitalize on its enormous recent growth. At the end of 2024, Anthropic had an annual run rate—or ARR—of $1 billion. By late 2025, that figure increased to $10 billion. This month, its ARR sits at $14 billion.
Discord: From Gaming Niche to Global Communications Giant
Initially popular among gamers shortly after its May 2015 debut, Discord surged in popularity during the pandemic. That coincided with a rebrand that saw it grow from 11 million registered users in 2016 to 350 million in 2021 when the company broadened to a general communication platform. Today, that figure stands at an incredible 656 million, including 37% of Americans ages 18 to 34 considered active users.
The free platform allows users to chat—including voice, video, and text—in real time within public or private “servers” (i.e., structured, persistent, and highly customizable community hubs that, to early internet users, are reminiscent of higher-functioning chat rooms).
The platform—which is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and web browsers—integrates with platforms like Spotify (NYSE: SPOT), YouTube, Twitch, Xbox, PlayStation, and Patreon.
Discord’s last funding round was in 2021. On Jan. 6, reports emerged that the company confidentially filed for a 2026 IPO at a valuation of $15 billion.
Plaid: The Fintech Trend Continues
As previously mentioned, 2025 was a big year for fintech startups going public. One of those names was Klarna (NYSE: KLAR)—the global payment provider which specializes in buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions for online and in-store shoppers.
That fintech trend could continue in 2026, albeit not with a BNPL provider but instead with Plaid. The company serves as an intermediary between financial institutions and account holders. Via Plaid, people’s accounts on an estimated 7,000 apps and more than 12,000 financial platforms—including PayPal’s (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo, Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), and Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD)—can have secure, encrypted bridges to instantly verify account details, more accurately and safely share data, and check balances.
In early 2026, there are over 150 million global consumers who use Plaid to connect their financial accounts to apps and financial institutions. In the United States alone, approximately one in every two adults uses the fintech company, which was founded in 2013, to connect financial services.
In April 2025, the company had a $575 million funding round led by global investment management firms BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton (NYSE: BEN) that resulted in an approximate valuation of $6.1 billion.
While that number is down from its peak of more than $13 billion in 2021—the result of a market correction in 2022 and fintech valuations subsiding as a result of the bear market—the company reported record revenue and positive operating margins in 2025.
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The article "3 of the Most Highly Anticipated IPOs of 2026" first appeared on MarketBeat.
